Visited Val and Chris on Sunday and decided to play some ‘old’
games rather than anything ‘new’. There are great games sitting on the shelves
than don’t get enough outings because there is always some new eye-candy
waiting to get to the table!
Started with Ticket to Ride – Europe. Of all the TtR variants
this remains my favourite, and I like the base game rather than adding depots
etc. from the expansion. The game deserves its reputation as a modern classic,
the rules are simple and the play fast, but there is enough tactical depth to
keep it interesting and fresh. Val won convincingly, and interestingly the rest
of us were evenly spaced behind her, separated by 10 points between each player
with no bunching up (I came last).
Next to the table was Quadropolis. There are so many ‘town
planning’ games out there, and many have too many options for scoring etc., the
beauty of Quad is its clean mechanics. Only 4 rounds with 4 choices per round,
but the range of options decreases as play progresses. Both Val and I went for
the ‘port’ option and tied for first place. We also tied on the first breaker
condition (number of meeples), and I just won on the second breaker condition
(fewest unfilled spaces). So the game could not have been closer.
We finished by playing 4 (!) games of Splendour, a favourite
of Elaine’s. I think the weak theme stops this coming out more often, because
the game play and mechanics work very well. Also, I can never seem to get the
aristo’s to visit my ‘shop’, so end up scoring poorly. The poker chips are so
tactile and I cannot simply leave them on the table, they have to be held and
fiddled with!
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